Humor as Confession

I noticed something the other day...

At our mid-week prayer service, the sharing of joys and concerns got a little out of control. It turned into something more like a conversation. At some point, someone asked me if I had gotten or would be getting a flu shot.

Oh my, no! I don't do shots. I try to avoid having to do anything at all involving needles.

And in the course of answering this question, I quipped that I "depend on sheer will power to keep me healthy."

I was joking. Sort of. Mostly. I think.

The thing is that it's sort of true. I am aware of myself as a person who is mostly healthy, who works hard and doesn't "have time to get sick." I don't think I'm a workaholic. I mostly take my day off on Mondays, and when I do have the sense that illness might be creeping up on me I take the first opportunity to get some rest, which usually nips it in the bud. Last night, for instance, I had been planning to go to a high school football game to hear a church kid play trombone. But I had the teeniest whisper of a sore throat, which usually means I should take it easy, inside surrounded by blankets, rather than sit outside in the cold and wet. So I didn't go.

But I do have some sense that I will myself to stay well. And yes, I am aware that that is pretty much an act of sinful hubris.

So when I made this "joke" in prayer service, I would submit that it was as much an act of confession as an act of humor. Perhaps it could be both.

What made me realize all this was one of the reactions to my comment. There was a man present (not a regular) who is not particularly skilled at picking up social clues. When I said that, he responded by saying that he relies on God's grace and God's healing and God's power to keep himself and his family healthy. He wasn't exactly calling me on the carpet, but it got pretty close. He clearly hadn't understood that I was joking.

Or maybe he understood that I wasn't joking. I don't know. It was an odd moment. Because of course he was right, if you add in the benefits of modern medicine that most of us avail ourselves of. And of course, to act as though I keep myself well by sheer force of will was a display of hubris.

But the whole point of saying such a thing, with the tone of voice I used, in that particular context was to point out how ridiculous it is that I pretend it's possible to keep myself well.

I'm not sure I've ever thought about humor as a context for confession before, but this experience leads me to believe we do it a lot. We know that things are funny because they're true. So when we exaggerate things, pretending that we're "putting on" it is also confession, because we know that there is truth there also and we're mocking ourselves.

Good thing laughter is good for your health!